Sunday, January 29, 2012

Recently I have taken my theory of natural diversity to the next level by hypothesizing a “more even than not” distribution of life pursuits. And by using the word “distribution” I do not imply the existence of some higher authority that allocates resources, rather I mean that life pursuits chosen by individuals themselves will, on the whole, result in a more even than not dispersion. In other words, if every individual were able to develop the natural capacity of his choice, then what we would see, if we were able to observe all of the vocations of everyone in an entire nation, is a more even than not distribution of life pursuits. Thus, for example, the amount of people who decide to go into science should be more equal than not to the amount of people who go into the humanities. Of course, the more specific of a vocation that is examined, the less my theory applies because I do not believe there will be a completely even distribution.

What I have stated so far does make strong claims on human nature that people may have reluctance accepting. However, even though I do not have empirical evidence to prove my hypothesis, I suspect many people actually do agree with my theory and that this agreement lies just beneath the surface of their thoughts. For example, let us take a look at the following excerpt of a recent Guardian article:

Black people are 12 percent of the U.S. population and 11 percent of all students beyond high school. In 2009, they received just 7 percent of all STEM bachelor's degrees, 4 percent of master's degrees, and 2 percent of PhDs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The numbers are striking in certain fields. In 2009, African-Americans received 1 percent of degrees in science technologies, and 4 percent of degrees in math and statistics. Out of 5,048 PhDs awarded in the physical sciences, such as chemistry and physics, 89 went to African-Americans — less than 2 percent.

It is clear that the author of this article believes that these statistics are alarming and that they deserved closer examination. I suspect many would not disagree. It seems that our intuitions tell us that the fact that very few African Americans go into science, technology, engineering and math, is not normal. I claim it is this belief in a more even than not distribution of life pursuits that produces such an intuition. Without a theory of distribution one cannot say that anything is wrong or deserves attention just by looking at the above statistics.

As was hinted to in the previous example, my theory of a more even than not distribution is applicable to large enough subgroups of a society, for example, women or specific races. Let us take a look at the following chart depicting the percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded to females by degree-granting institutions in selected fields of study for the academic year 2008-09:

The fact that there are very few women who receive degrees in engineering should incite suspicion that something is wrong and I believe many people who see this chart would agree with me. But how could we explain this intuition? Without the fundamental assumption of a more even than not distribution of life pursuits we cannot. Therefore, with this example, we see once more that my theory is just beneath the surface of people's thoughts. To be clear, just because there is an extreme uneven distribution of life pursuits does not necessarily mean something is wrong, rather it warrants suspicion that there is a restriction of the development of the natural diversity of human capacity.

I shall finalize my argument by presenting the following hypothetical scenario. Suppose we were able to see all the vocations that the citizens of a specific country pursued and suppose that when we looked at this information we noticed that there were no artists. This would be suspicious would it not? How is it possible that there are no artists in an entire nation? Furthermore, this suspicion would increase proportionally with the population of that specific country. If Estonia, a country with a population of 1.3 million, had no artists, that would be one thing. But if China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion, had no artists, then our suspicion should increase significantly. And this is simply due to probability. With an increase of a population, one would think the probability that at least one person deciding to be an artist would also increase. I believe this is a fair intuition to have. Therefore, if there were such a nation in which there were no artists, I would be highly suspicious and would think that there is a good chance that something is wrong.

My theory of the development of the natural diversity of human capacity has progressed onto the next stage by encompassing a theory of a more even than not distribution of life pursuits. By presenting the above examples and showing that the intuitions others have coincide with mine, and by arguing that the reason for this is a fundamental assumption of a more even than not distribution of life pursuits, I hope to have been at least a bit convincing.

The purpose of this blog is to be a supplement to my future autobiography. Having my daily recordings will present in more detail all the interesting experiences and reflections that I have had. My autobiography, in contrast, will present a more general analysis of my life, hopefully written with the perspective acquired from a lifetime of experience.

These are the recordings of an ordinary person trying to live an extraordinary life.